57' Custom 300 hot rod

[Gibson68]

After speaking with the engine builder and reading a bunch of threads on the 292 vs 312 block I have decided to go with the 292 block for better strength. Here is the layout for the 351 stroker rotating assembly. Forged 283 SBC pistons (3.875), eagle 6.125 rods with SBC pin size and Honda 1.889 rod journals, grind the 312 mains to std 292 mains, grind the rod journals to 1.889, offset grind the crank stroke to 3.727. There are a few concerns I have that will have to be address. The bore size of 3.875 would be 125 over 292. The cast crank ground to the smaller Honda journal and spinning over 5500 may be a recipe for disaster.

[lalessi1]

I would be most concerned about the .125 overbore. A simple sonic test of the cylinder wall thickness would let you know before you get started whether you will have enough wall thickness left... I think .100" is minimum. Is there a forged steel crank available? If you are not racing it I am thinking it is a plan. Sounds pricey especially if the engine goes south though.

[JPotter57]

.125 is no big deal on a 292 block, as Ted Eaton does it a lot.  The 1.88 rod journals would be spooky though, that is small.  It has been done though, I believe Pat Fleischman's 57 Custom has a 351 or 354 y block, which started life as a 292.  Aside from the stroker combo, it also has a heavily worked Paxton VR57 supercharger that puts out a good bit more than the OEM 6 lbs of boost.  It lives fine, but the key is prep and quality rotating assembly and parts.  Honestly though, you would be way better off buying custom lightweight pistons instead of going the cheaper route with forged 283 pistons.  All of those that are available are heavy, and that coupled with the smaller rod journals, is inviting trouble.  Get a good set of Diamond or Mahle pistons, they can custom make them in whatever bore size and pin height, valve configuration you specify.  And, the price is not as bad as you think.  Just my .02.

[lalessi1]

I priced the Diamond pistons in a special .060 over size for a 428. Price wasn't bad at all, I was surprised. would up using Mahle as part of a Scat stroker kit (.030 over), the pistons were very nice!

[Gibson68]

After a few phones with Ted Eaton he has advised I go with a 330" build instead of the 351 build due to the rod journal size of 1.889. He said a few guys have tried this with a factory crank and it didn't end well, basically complete crankshaft failure. Instead of running a common four barrel on this motor I am looking into running an edelbrock 573 3x2 manifold with Stromberg "big"97 carbs. I emailed Strindberg technical this afternoon to see if they offered a linkage and fuel line kit for the edelbrock carb spacing. I will sacrifice some HP with this set up but I think it will be an awesome old school set up.